SOCMINT
SOCMINT: What Is It and How Can It Help Improve Personal and Organizational Security?
Social media plays a more important role than ever in today’s society, making the world a smaller place by allowing us to connect in ways not previously possible. A study in the report How to Hack a Human, conducted by Tessian, revealed that 84% of people post personal information on social media weekly, with 42% of those individuals posting daily.
Social media intelligence (SOCMINT) is the process of using techniques, technologies, and tools to gather information posted on social media platforms to be analyzed and interpreted. SOCMINT is a subdiscipline of open source intelligence (OSINT), the discovery and use of all public, online information. SOCMINT specifically uses public information from social media accounts. Information obtained through SOCMINT research includes education and employment history, important dates such as birthdays and anniversaries, names of spouses, children and other relatives, as well as work trips or annual personal vacations. Knowing that SOCMINT is geared towards gathering information from social media may falsely imply that it is content only pulled from large, well known platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. However, the true sphere of SOCMINT also includes social media platforms for gaming, blogging, music, politics, travel, reviews, and photography. Additional examples of platforms that also fall under social media accounts are Reddit, Xbox Live, Tumblr, Flickr, Pinterest, Github, Telegram, and Wordpress.
When information from social media accounts is collated, there are typically four steps in the intelligence process: collection, automation, analysis, and distribution. Good SOCMINT research and analysis will not only help you to gain awareness of an individual or a company, but SOCMINT can also be used to understand how threat actors could use the same information to their advantage. Security and intelligence teams can use SOCMINT reports and documentation to be proactive in their research in an effort to identify risks, monitor for emerging hazards, validate potential threats and take necessary mitigation steps to solve problems. Additionally, SOCMINT can be used for various forms of investigations including for topics such as fraud and identity theft prevention, to aid law enforcement in investigations, due diligence on potential employees or business ventures, as well as real-time surveillance of events or /areas of interest. Let’s discuss these use cases a bit further:
Fraud and Identity Theft Prevention: Many social media users post personally identifiable information (PII) on their accounts. This includes full name (including middle name), date of birth, employment history, education history, current location, and family members. Threat actors can use this information to gain access to personal and financial accounts. SOCMINT can be used as a proactive measure to identify publicly available information. By being proactive, an individual is a less desirable target.
Law Enforcement Investigation Aid: Law enforcement can use SOCMINT to strengthen a criminal case, identify associates, and be aware of threats or crimes before they take place. These pieces of information can then be compiled in a police report, to strengthen a court case before trial, or used in a subpoena request.
Potential Employee or Business Partnership Due Diligence: SOCMINT is a useful tool in due diligence to protect a business from potential vulnerabilities, including brand degradation, insider threat, social engineering attempts, or business investment scams.
Real-Time Surveillance of Events/Areas: When companies or top corporate executives travel, it is helpful to know that where they are going is as safe and secure as possible. Using SOCMINT to monitor in advance and in real time for threats, activity, and unrest allow security teams to have a complete threat picture.
Could you or your organization benefit from SOCMINT work? If you have any questions regarding SOCMINT or would like to learn more about how our team at Du-Zel can help you with your SOCMINT needs, please send us a message.